Traveling with Ellen

  We were so lucky with the weather today.  It poured overnight but was sunny for our outdoor tour of the valley of the temples archeological site.   We left the hotel at 9 am with a short 20 minute drive to the archeological museum.  We toured the antiquities inside for about an hour and a half with a special tour guide and were shown many of the artifacts that were uncovered.   The outside of the museum  Some of the artifacts found during excavation  Also discovered were sarcophagus of young and old.  Stone coffins, ornately carved. This Telamon was discovered in pieces and put back together.  The male figure was used as a supporting column on the temples  Looking outside over the archeological site, a bunker or pillbox was pointed out. Just below the bottom road. These were made by the Italians for protection in WWII Looking outside from the museum, there’s a bit of excavation going on.   There was also an Agora (a central meetin...

  Breakfast, as usual at 7 am and then as today was a moving day, our luggage had to be outside our hotel door at 7:15 am.   We left the hotel at 8:30 am and headed for Monreale cathedral.  This too is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   It’s an amazing example of Norman architecture.  Construction started in 1174 and the cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  It wasn’t completed until 1267. The main feature of this 70,000 sq ft church are the glass mosaics in the Byzantine style done in the late 12th century and the early 13th century.  It’s absolutely exquisite.   The organ has 10,000 pipes.  The pipes of the organ flank both sides of the altar. We had a special local guide to show us inside the cathedral.  You could really tell that he loved the church and he got emotional about  the mosaics several times during our tour.  In fact, his parents celebrated their 50th anniversary last year in this cathedral.   Below are p...